Jani King franchise owners discuss their experiences

Ketan Patel (Started in 2004, current turnover £1.2m): When we came across Jani-King it looked good because of the growth element of it and the guarantee of sales and revenue and so we sort of got involved and we've not looked back since.

Martin Smith (Started in 2005, current turnover £150K): The reason I chose Jani-King or commercial cleaning was because I wanted to choose something that wasn't a fad, something that people required all the time, and I think the saying is where there is muck there is money.

Raj Rauli (Started in 2004, current turnover £800K): The reason we chose to buy a franchise to buy a proven system and the guidelines set out in the system and eventually you will make a success out of it.

Neil Dunlop (Started in 2006, current turnover £525K): I think it was the support that appealed to me also the fact that they dealt with national accounts.

David McNeil (Started 2006, current turnover £700K): I guess the strength that a franchise is that it allows a national coverage of a common approach and therefore allows us a better quality of customer.

Support where you need it

Michelle Cocklin (Jani-King Customer Services Manager, Kingston): They come to us for all the support that they would need while they are starting up their franchise and actually while they are running their franchise. All their ordering of their uniforms, their supplies and their vans, everything they would need to get themselves up and running and everything they would need to continue running the franchise.

Raj Rauli (Started in 2004, current turnover £800K): Jani-King brings a great van as well out on the streets especially in the heart of London - because of the way it has been branded it sticks to people's mind and we've got customers who actually see the vans or our supervisors have been stopped and asked 'commercial cleaning would you be able to give us a quote?'.

Michelle Cocklin: We have a team of account managers that will go round and audit the accounts on a regular basis they will go in to make sure the uniforms are in place, the correct health and safety is in place, and also build a relationship with customers so that if there was any problems and they couldn't get hold of the franchisee they would call the account manager and not cancel. That is ultimately our aim, so they don't look elsewhere.

Tracey Shann (Jani-King Operations Manager, Kingston): When they come out of training and actually step into the field it can be a little bit scary at times and help and support from Jani-King does help the franchisee move forward.

Franchisee Forums

Anita Rauli (Started 2004, current turnover £800k): The forum we have gives us an understanding of where Jani-King want to go to and also I hope we help Jani-King understand where the franchisee fits in and how they feel and where the franchisee needs to go to.

Forums are useful opportunities for us to feed back the feelings and expectations of the franchisee have that discussion with Jani-King and hopefully work better together as an integrated business so it's a two way process really.

QRM Conference in London

Aminder Romana (Started 2008, current turnover £312K): It is ongoing training really, obviously everyone learns as we go along. The business is changing, the climate is changing as we know, so it is just good to know how we should approach things and bit of advice is always good.

Nicola Black (New franchisee): There was a lady who stood up and spoke today and talked about having a positive attitude and I think that is the biggest thing that came out of the QRM for me today is that there is a lot of positive things out there and we have the support there to manage that.

Martin Smith (Started in 2005, current turnover £150K): Ian is exceptionally motivational because he is so positive and it's one of the strong things that I personally like about the QRM, where Ian's driving it forward, and you do go out after getting your little dose of your Jani-King pill and it does tend to puff out the chess and go out with basically with a positive attitude.

Managing change

We are having meetings with customers and they are looking for more and I think you've just got to give it to them, you have two choices you either give the customer what they want or you don't and if you don't then they will get someone else who will.

Joe McGuigan (Started in 2005, current turnover £300K): And customers like that they like to see new things it shows that you are not standing still but moving forward as well.

You need to have innovative products in order to differentiate your company and brand.

Sukhjit Gill & Sandeep Gill(New franchisees): The products and innovations that JK are introducing are definitely going to prove to be very successful for us because we've already seen a lot of interest from clients.

You have a great product that has innovated well, executed well you know you have a great chance of generating some money.

Clearly if you stand still you are going to die.

Tony Flood (Started in 2008, current turnover £700K): Where as Jani-King past has always been able to demonstrate added value we are able now to change our strategy in terms of value for money and actually undercutting the competition getting our foot in the door and hopefully retaining those customers when times become good.

Manish Patel (Started in 2008, current turnover £350K): I think the next step is to differentiate us against your man in the van and maybe move into the league where people specialise it's high margin, it's easier work, and I think it gives the franchisee more armoury to go into different locations and sell products.

Fal Patel (Started in 2008, current turnover £350K): I think it is more on the case of getting new clients new services looking at hospital, schools, it's just a wide area, a larger area than what we do at the moment.

Secrets of success?

Secret of our success hard work believing in the system

Ketan Patel (Started in 2004, current turnover £1.2m): Relationship with our customers is a huge part and also managing our people to hold relationships with those customers is a huge part of it just keeping on top of daily affairs really.

Ian always talks about we are in the relationship cleaning business and its true.

Joe McGuigan (Started in 2005, current turnover £300K): Me being a local contact and all the business I do, so within having a national brand and the support, there is all these individual people throughout the UK who are going to care more about the customer and that is the biggest thing because at the end of the day it is my livelihood.

Raj Rauli (Started in 2004, current turnover £800K): The plan for us is to grow the business now we have seen the vision and it is achievable. It is basically just growing the business aiming to really increase our business to the million pound turnover, that's what we are aiming for.

You can make an impact with the training and knowledge you have actually got you can actually go out there and we have been very successful in getting extra business that has actually had spring board to enable us to actually get contracts ourselves which then has a springboard to get a staffing structure in place that when Jani-King do offer you accounts you are in a situation where you can utilise your resource and move forward.

Growing applies to me is growing our own business continually, it is a never ending thing, the business drops off at the bottom and you've got to replace it at the top.

Anita Rauli (Started 2004, current turnover £800K): Word of mouth is very important your references are very important, you don't know where your manager who you are working with today may be tomorrow and if you do a good enough job you have the opportunity to go along with them.

It is not for everybody but of you think you've got the correct ethic of making a business work and expand and grow, and if you think you've got the qualities to run a commercial cleaning company under the Jani-King system then yes it is a good option.